In the lumber industry it is common to treat logs and milled lumber with certain chemical solutions. For example, logs may be treated with biocidal agents to prevent the development of fungi and bacteria. Additionally, clear or pigmented with water repellent coatings may be applied to milled lumber. The usual method of applying these chemical solutions is to spray them on the logs and lumber to be treated. Because the biocides and coatings applied to the logs are usually caustic and carcinogenic, it is necessary to minimize worker exposure to these materials. Accordingly, when the chemical solutions are to be sprayed on logs and lumber, the items to be sprayed are moved to a restricted access spraying area. During spraying, workers are kept from the vicinity of spraying. After spraying, the vicinity is aired for an extended period of time before workers are allowed to enter the area.
A problem associated with log and lumber spraying is the frequency with which the orifices of sprayer nozzles become clogged. The clogging problem is compounded by the fact that workers cannot enter the spraying area to unclog clogged sprayer nozzle orifices until the expiration of the extended airing period required after spraying stops.
One common type of sprayer head used to spray chemical solutions on logs and lumber includes a spray nozzle diametrically mounted in a cylinder. The cylinder is attached to a handle that is used to manually rotate the cylinder through 180.degree. between a spraying position and a cleaning position. When in the spraying position, the chemical solution is sprayed out an orifice in a conventional manner. When the orifice becomes clogged, the cylinder is rotated to the cleaning position. When in the cleaning position, the chemical solution is forced through the nozzle in the reverse direction, resulting in the cleaning of the nozzle orifice.
While it is theoretically possible to provide a mechanical mechanism for rotating the cylinder of a spray nozzle of the type described above to avoid the need to have a worker manually rotate the cylinder, such mechanisms are impractical because they are undesirably complex and difficult to design. These difficulties arise because of problems associated with the fact that a high rotary torque is required to rotate the cylinder in which the nozzle is mounted.
The present invention is a sprayer head that overcomes the foregoing disadvantages. More specifically, the present invention is directed to providing a sprayer head having a nozzle that is movable between spraying and cleaning positions by an uncomplicated mechanical mechanism that can be remotely actuated. As a result, the sprayer head is ideally suited for use in the lumber industry to spray chemical solutions on logs and finished lumber. Rather than having to air out a spray area in order for workers to be able to enter the area and clean the orifices of spray nozzles as heretofore required, the orifices of nozzles of sprayer heads formed in accordance with the invention can be cleaned without requiring worker access to the spray area.